Blue Grand National Horses

The Gordon Elliott trained gelding is a winning machine having won thirteen times already with two sequences of five wins in a row.   The highlight of his wins so far was undoubtedly defeating Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard two seasons ago in the Grade One Savills Chase at Leopardstown. Since that memorable victory, Galvin's form has dipped and he has recorded just one win in his last ten races. The slump in form has prompted Gordon Elliott to pursue a Cross Country route with the ten-year-old gelding and Galvin took to the discipline immediately when finishing runner-up to Delta Work in his first race over the Cross Country obstacles at last season's Cheltenham Festival. This season has seen three defeats for Galvin, including two in handicaps on the Cheltenham Cross Country course but he ran really well when finishing fourth in the Grade Two Boyne Hurdle at Navan in February. The ground that day was heavy which would definitely not have been to Galvin's liking but he put in a promising performance and was only five lengths. Undoubtedly at his best on a sounder surface, Galvin is eleven pounds lower than when attempting the Grand National for the first time last season where he unseated Davy Russell at the first fence. At the unveiling of the Grand National weights this year, trainer Gordon Elliott was sweet on Galvin's chance at Aintree and the handicapper has undoubtedly taken a risk with the mark he has given the gelding for this year's Grand National. The main drawbacks to Galvin's hopes would be his preference for good ground and his jumping which can be chancy. However, given he could now be extremely well handicapped, those concerns could be risks worth taking.

Minella Cocooner was part of the team Willie Mullins highlighted to help him win the British Trainers’ Championship and this horse certainly did his bit when victorious in the Bet365 Gold Cup and winning over £95,000 in the process.  That win at Sandown was only Minella Cocooner’s second win over fences and with only a seven pound rise for that big win he looks to have the scope to win some more big pots. As well as winning at Sandown on good ground he had previously been third in the Irish National when four lengths behind Intense Raffles on heavy ground.  This season Mullins has so far campaigned this horse at the Grade One level and he has been comprehensively beaten on his three starts by 25, 41 and 32 lengths. Minella Cocooner’s supporters should not lose heart though as it appears the nine-year-old gelding tends to find his best form toward the end of the season. His four best performances on Racing Post ratings have all come from March onwards in the season so it will be very interesting to see how the British handicapper rates him for the 2025 Grand National.